Automation - How far can it go?

[PRTVR]

JagLover said:

maffski said:

RDMcG said:

In my view we are at a very early stage.

Indeed. Technology ousting human labour on this scale is completely unprecedented.

https://azizonomics.com/2013/01/16/of-wages-and-ro...


Or perhaps not. People just go and do other things.

That chart covers 200 years

We are talking of changes over the next 25.

Plus during the 200 years the industrial revolution took place requiring large numbers of people, going forward there are no similar type events with advanced manufacturing technology.

[maffski]

JagLover said:

That chart covers 200 years

We are talking of changes over the next 25.

But looking at it every 25 years shifts about 10% of the workforce out of agriculture. Is that not a significant change?

PRTVR said:

Plus during the 200 years the industrial revolution took place requiring large numbers of people, going forward there are no similar type events with advanced manufacturing technology.

At the start of the (1st) industrial revolution did we know it would lead to jobs in search engine optimisation and personal shopping? Or did we just find other things to do. Like that SEO - an industry that didn't exist 25 years ago and it now worth $60bn+ globally.

[Clivey]

FredClogs said:

As an aside I think it was Bill Hicks, or maybe George Carlin who observed how ridiculous the obsession with the unemployment figures when assessing a successful economy, surely the goal would be to get to a point where no one works?

What happened to all these "visions of the future" where labour saving devices did all the boring stuff?

[Getragdogleg]

Clivey said:

FredClogs said:

As an aside I think it was Bill Hicks, or maybe George Carlin who observed how ridiculous the obsession with the unemployment figures when assessing a successful economy, surely the goal would be to get to a point where no one works?

What happened to all these "visions of the future" where labour saving devices did all the boring stuff?

Anyone else remember the promise of the "paperless office" ?

I am snowed under with paper, way worse that it used to be.

[JawKnee]

Getragdogleg said:

Clivey said:

FredClogs said:

As an aside I think it was Bill Hicks, or maybe George Carlin who observed how ridiculous the obsession with the unemployment figures when assessing a successful economy, surely the goal would be to get to a point where no one works?

What happened to all these "visions of the future" where labour saving devices did all the boring stuff?

Anyone else remember the promise of the "paperless office" ?

I am snowed under with paper, way worse that it used to be.

Unless you work in an Andrex factory your company is missing a trick

[davepoth]

maffski said:

Indeed. Technology ousting human labour on this scale is completely unprecedented.

https://azizonomics.com/2013/01/16/of-wages-and-ro...


Or perhaps not. People just go and do other things.

The population in the USA in 1790 was 3.9 million and some change, so in 1790 there were around 3.5 million farmers. Today, the population is 309 million, so there are now 5.25 million farmers.

Now those farmers are roughly 75 times more efficient than their ancestors, but there are still a lot more of them than there were in 1790 so it's really not the same thing.

We are probably looking at automation being able to reduce the number of farmers (the ones that make commodity food anyway) by an order of magnitude, down to the hundreds of thousands, and (and this bit is really important) for that order of magnitude reduction to take place almost simultaneously in virtually every mass employment sector.

[Tango13]

I posted this in the tattoo thread but it's just as relevant for this one...

https://vimeo.com/175491863

[davepoth]

Getragdogleg said:

Anyone else remember the promise of the "paperless office" ?

I am snowed under with paper, way worse that it used to be.

I was in a site meeting one day when the General Manager got up to speak.

"My aim is to make this facility paperless within 2 years."

It was a paper mill.

[mondeoman]

Getragdogleg said:

Anyone else remember the promise of the "paperless office" ?

I am snowed under with paper, way worse that it used to be.

Can't remember the last time I printed anything, nor was given anything printed

[loafer123]

Fasinating video showing the developments in learning by automated vehicles.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-96BEoXJMs0

[anonymous-user]

I read a study about this a while ago, I think something like 90% of the population think most jobs can be automated in the next 20 years but only 20 odd % think their own job will be automated.